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Unlocking The Twin Cities: Sea Life Aquarium

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BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) – In a given year, about 600,000 people will see the thousands of sea creatures at Sea Life at Mall of America, but there’s a lot of work that goes into getting the animals ready to be put on display.

Often after arriving at Sea Life, the animals are first put in the main holding facility, which workers call “the triangle” because of the room’s shape.

Those animals typically stay there for about a month, where the Sea Life staff will make sure they are healthy and eating.

The newest critters at Sea Life are a pair of caiman, a close relative to the alligator. Even after not eating for a week, the caiman didn’t act excited when offered fish and mice.

“(The caiman) are very skittish because they don’t necessarily trust us yet and associate us with the food,” said John Wilson with the Sea Life display staff.

The animals at Sea Life are fed a variety of foods. If fish are on the menu, the staff will cut them into bite size pieces, without the heads. When preparing the meals, the staff makes sure nothing goes to waste.

“Anything that’s wasteful, that’s just going to add more poo, which is going to make the water more foul,” said aquarium curator Carly Byrns.

The caiman will be a part of Sea Life’s Mysteries of the Amazon exhibit, which opens in March.